Finding the Hydrant of Blessings
- Rev. Jerry Lepasana
- Apr 12, 2009
- Series: So, What's the Upside?
FINDING YOUR HYDRANT OF BLESSINGS
Ephesians 1:3-7 (NIV)
- Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ.
- For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love
- he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will--
- to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves.
- In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace
I’m sure we are all familiar with fire hydrants. Prior to its invention, firefighters used bucket brigades or hand pumping systems to get water to put out fires. With fire hydrants, you have a discharge pipe with a control valve that allows water to flow from a water main with great force making it easier for firefighters to do their job. In a way, there is a parallelism between a fire hydrant and our Lord Jesus Christ. Remember two Sundays ago, I preached on the encounter of the Samaritan woman and the Lord Jesus Christ, and I highlighted the claim of Jesus Christ found in John 4:13-14: Jesus answered, "Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life." Jesus explicitly claim that He is able to give us the spring of living water that can continually meet all our spiritual needs. The reality is: He is our spiritual hydrant that allows us to experience a powerful supply of blessings. He wants us to be a fire hose hooked up to Him!
Since we are here today celebrating the resurrection of Jesus Christ, I chose this Sunday to begin a series entitled, So What’s the Upside? Having just spent 6 Sundays talking about "/b>“Reservation", or the reasons why people are holding back to commit their lives to Jesus Christ. I felt it is but proper to talk about the special blessings we receive when we surrender our lives to Him.
The choices we make in life have significant impact in our journey. When we choose to commit our lives to Jesus Christ and faithfully walk with Him, we will definitely reap the blessings. However, when we decide to do the opposite, then we also have to be prepared to suffer the consequences. Throughout this series, I’ll highlight the advantages of having Christ with the hope that I can continually challenge all of us to commit to Him. Easter celebration is the perfect time to talk about this because Christ redemptive work culminates in his resurrection. Without His work, obtaining any spiritual blessing from God would not be possible. The apostle Paul prayed in the latter part of Ephesians 1 that we all be enlightened in relation to all the blessings we have received through the work of Jesus Christ.
- I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better.
- I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints,
- and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the working of his mighty strength,
- which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms,
It is to our disadvantage if we do not begin to understand our hope in Christ including the glorious riches and incredible power we have in Him. And these are just some of the blessings. I really believe you would be overwhelmed with the goodness of God once we begin to look at some of the blessings I wish to cover during this series. For this first message, let’s concentrate on Ephesians 1: 3-7. When Paul wrote this letter to the Ephesian believers, he wanted to inform them of their special privileges in Christ. So, what are some of them?
I THE EXALTED POSITION: (v.3)
The apostle Paul opens his letter with the highest praises to God. If you are reading this in the King James Version, the word Blessed appears in verse 3 instead of Praise. The Greek word used for this is the word where we get the English word Eulogy. It literally means To speak well of someone. That’s the reason why when we do a eulogy in funeral services, you have to speak well of the person who passed away. In the same manner, Paul begins by acknowledging that God deserves to be exalted because of everything He has done for the believers.
Verse 3 serves as a summary statement. Paul gives praises to God for all the blessings He has bestowed to everyone who belongs to Jesus Christ. The key phrase in this verse and throughout the book of Ephesians is "In Christ." Sometimes it is also rendered in Him or in whom. Within this short letter, Paul used it 32 times. Now, this is really significant because it brings to light our exalted position as believers. When you and I believe in Jesus Christ, we have been elevated to a position wherein God begins to treat us in the same level He would treat His one and only Son. Jesus Himself taught His disciples this same doctrine:
- Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— Indeed, when we received Jesus Christ, we have received the right or the entitlement to be treated as children of God. Please don’t miss the fact that our faith in Jesus qualified us into a position of rich blessings. To what extent are we blessed?
A. Our blessings are secured:
Paul declared that He already blessed us. It is a done deal! You don’t’ need anything more than what you already have in your relationship with Christ.
B. Our blessings are spiritual:
The phrase in the heavenly realms suggests that our blessings are spiritual. We are not talking about physical health and material wealth here. Those things may come as God blesses us but we already have in the bank all we need in a spiritual sense.
C. Our blessings are sufficient:
We have received every spiritual blessing we need so that we can thrive as believers. God in His wisdom has given us everything that is necessary in order for our journeys to be meaningful. I trust we are beginning to understand how privilege we are in Christ. But in addition to this, there are still more. Let’s go to the next:
II THE EFFECTIVE PREDESTINATION: (vs.4-6)
The appreciation of verses 4-6 comes in a better understanding of God being a sovereign God. Dr. R. C. Sproul, a great theologian defines God’s sovereignty as God's governmental authority and power over his entire universe. In other words, God possesses absolute authority and power over His entire universe to do or accomplish whatever He pleases. This concept comes from the statement in verse 5 - in accordance with his pleasure and will.
In relation to salvation, God has exercised His sovereignty to include us to be recipients of great grace. When I say “us”, I refer to all of us who have received Jesus Christ as our personal savior. What is even more amazing is that these verses tell us that we have been chosen and predestined even before anything ever existed. What does predestination mean? As the Bible Knowledge Commentary explains, the word simply means “marked out beforehand.” You see, in eternity past, God made some plans for our salvation which included the following:
A. Our Sanctification (v.4)
God’s utmost desire is for us to share in His holiness. From eternity He has determined that we become holy and blameless before Him. Once we received Jesus, the Holy Spirit begins the work of making us holy. Here’s our great assurance:
- being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.
B. Our Son ship (v5)
Another significant blessing of knowing Jesus is the privilege of being adopted into God’s family. From being a part of Satan’s family (“You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father's desire. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies”- John 8:44), we have been given the full rights and privileges of being members of God’s family (John 1:12).
Predestination is a clear revelation in the Scriptures, and it is an effective act of God. There are other verses in the New Testament that reinforces this teaching. One of them would be:
- For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.
Our salvation has happened because God has graciously planned to do so. There are people who are having difficulty in accepting this doctrine because they are saying, “what if some people who are dear to me are not included in His plan?” Now, I do not believe we should be worried about anyone. God word assures us:
- All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away.
This is a great mystery in the God’s work of salvation: God chooses people to receive salvation, but gives man the prerogative to choose as well. Both are true and essential.
Since our salvation is wholly the work of God, verse 6 clearly states that the end result should be God receiving the highest form of praise. If you were saved because you were extraordinary, or super special or highly intelligent, then you are most deserving of salvation. However, God chose sinners – lowly, imperfect, and undeserving people to receive the grace of salvation. He deserves to be praised!
- But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong.
- He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things--and the things that are not--to nullify the things that are,
- so that no one may boast before him.
III THE EXCEPTIONAL PAYMENT: (v.7)
Based on our main text, there is still one more blessing I want to emphasize. It is the blessing of REDEMPTION. You have probably heard this word in church already, but do you really understand the beautiful picture that it gives and its application to believers.
Redemption in the Bible is simply defined as Deliverance from bondage by means of a price paid. From this definition, we must understand that prior to salvation or deliverance, we as sinners are slaves to sin (Romans 7:25). But Jesus paid an exceptional price in order to free us. The price was His very own blood. Peter explained its preciousness:
- For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers,
- but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect.
I hope all of us would realize that the blood signified the precious life of the only beloved Son of God. Jesus, the Creator of everything, the king of Kings dying for people like you and I. For what? So we can receive the forgiveness of our sins. Literally, forgiveness speaks about the cancellation of our debts. We are not just slaves, we are debtors to God for everything we have done against Him. But in His grace, He offered His only Son to forgive us.
Today, if you have believed and received Jesus as savior, your great assurance is:
- But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.
Wow, all sins! Can you take the time and imagine some of the sins you have committed? Whatever it was, God has erased all of them. He promised never to remember them anymore because they are forgiven (Hebrews 8:12). What you have to only acknowledge today is: It’s all because of God’s grace (v.7).
Imagine the riches of His grace – our exalted position, our effective predestination, and our exceptional payment are all included. These are just the beginning of the benefits we have received because we have embraced Jesus. I trust we all will recognize how privilege we are today because of Him. Truly, He deserves our commitment and productivity.